Want more beans, grains in your diet? Get live help here.

By Staff, Postmedia

Wednesday, January 22, 2014

“Beans. We know them well, but as familiar as they are, a huge number of us don’t have a clue what to do with them once we get them home to our kitchens,” write Julie Van Rosendaal and Sue Duncan in their cookbook, “Spilling the Beans: Cooking and Baking with Beans and Grains Every Day.” If you’re looking to expand your recipe repertoire with beans, lentils and grains, this week’s food chat will help you find ways to incorporate these healthy staples into your family’s diet. And this week we’re welcoming Julie Van Rosendaal, co-author of Spilling the Beans and host of It’s Just Food on the Viva Network.

Joining Julie on our regular panel: Journalist Ron Eade was the food editor of the Ottawa Citizen for more than two decades and now writes about food in his blog, Omnivore’s Ottawa, Liane Faulder writes about food for the Edmonton Journal and maintains an award-winning blog, Eat My Words, Peter Hum is the food editor of the Ottawa Citizen, Susan Schwartz is a feature writer and columnist who writes about food for the Montreal Gazette, Randy Shore is a former restaurant cook and avid food gardener who writes about food issues for the Vancouver Sun, Gwendolyn Richards is the food writer for the Calgary Herald and the blogger behind PatentandthePantry.com, and Laura Brehaut writes about food for canada.com and Postmedia Network. Be a part of the discussion, Thursday at 1 p.m. ET, 10 a.m. PT.